In a retail type environment, the efficiency with which consumers are able to process, pay for and purchase their desired items factors into the expenses for a retail type establishment. The labor hours attributable to maiming checkout counters contributes greatly to this expense. In a typical retail operation, a shopper gathers the items desired for purchase and presents them at a checkout counter, a clerk then scans or enters the items' barcodes and the point-of-sale (POS) system totals the shopper's bill. The clerk may apply any promotional discounts to the bill, the shopper tenders payment and the items may be bagged for the customer. A number of self-service automated checkout terminal concepts have been developed in an attempt to reduce the need for a check-out clerk, thus reducing associated labor costs.
Toward reducing operating expenses, some businesses have implemented self-checkout counters that substitute for individual clerks and baggers at each checkout terminal. Self-checkout terminals are systems which are operated mainly by a customer without the direct aid of a checkout clerk. In such a system, the customer scans, selects or enters individual items for purchase, for example, across a scanner or screen and then places the selected items into a grocery type bag, if desired. The customer then pays for his or her purchase either at the self-service checkout terminal or at a central payment area. Thus, a self-service checkout terminal permits a customer to select, itemize and even pay for his or her purchases without the direct assistance of the retailer's personnel at each individual checkout terminal.
A customer typically has little or no training in the operation of a self-service checkout terminal and customers may make errors when checking out their items. One concern that retailers have when evaluating a self-service checkout terminal is the level of assistance to be provided to inexperienced customers and the amount of supervision required for automated checkout systems.
Moreover, it is also known that some customers have improper intentions when using a self-service checkout terminal and may attempt to shortchange or “walk-away” from a terminal prior to paying for their items. In traditional checkout systems, the clerk employed by the retailer to operate the checkout terminal provides a level of security against impropriety. As a result, it has been viewed as desirable to retain at least one clerk for oversight of multiple self-service checkout terminals.
There are, however, other legitimate situations when a customer may walk-away from a checkout terminal prior to completion of a transaction. For example, before tendering payment, a customer may realize that he or she forgot an item and may therefore return to the shopping area to retrieve the additional item before completing the transaction.
It is difficult to determine whether a consumer is engaging in a legitimate delay at a self-checkout terminal. Therefore, regardless of the reason that a consumer walks away or the transaction is delayed, it is viewed as desirable for a self-checkout terminal to be left in an idle or locked mode, requiring manual reset, before another transaction may progress. Thus, while each self-checkout terminal may not have a clerk present, there is still an attendant responding to the self-checkout terminals either remotely or on-the-spot.
For various reasons, such as, concerns regarding theft, the inability to determine the reason for the walk-away, operational assistance and the desire in the field to retain at least one attendant for oversight of the self-checkout terminals, a point of human oversight has remained at self-checkout terminals. A problem that is created however is that throughput, a main advantage of self-checkout terminals, may be greatly hindered. Applicant believes that there are retail and vending scenarios where a completely automated self-checkout system, without a dedicated oversight attendant or with greatly reduced attendant participation, would be beneficial.
Applicant believes that in certain vending and retail scenarios, security to an automated self-service POS machine may be adequately provided through means other than locking or initiating an idle mode in the machine. In fact, locking the machine may discourage consumers from using self-service checkouts in certain scenarios. In some vending environments, such as in a hotel, business lobby or a hospital, offering items for purchase, such as fresh food items, in an open display along with an automated self-service checkout may encourage sales as against the traditional vending machine. However, an automated self-checkout in such an unattended vending scenario would not function well if it locked or went into an idle mode at every walk-away or delay during the transaction. Purposefully designing an automated self-checkout to void and reset runs counter to the idea that it is desirable for a self-checkout POS machine to become idle or to lock in order to alert a supervisor in the case of a delay.
The current self-checkout systems often still require a high degree of store employee or operator intervention. A large variety of differing types of transactions must be handled by the automated check-out system. Because a machine lacks the judgment of a human being, these systems tend to be inflexible so completely automated systems are difficult to develop. Hence, a need exists for a system that provides more efficient throughput, minimizes or eliminates the required human supervision and retains adequate security.